Re: NBNCO
Reply #19 –
Yes, broadband over cable TV Telstra/Foxtel or Optus can be fibre or HFC, technically there is no difference between this and NBN equivalents, it's the actual equipment attached at either end that matters and how they manage the service. NBN HFC is really the new version of the Foxtel cable, in some regions I believe NBN take over the old Foxtel cable connections if they previously existed, but I'm not 100% sure about this as I believe they are scheduled for replacement.
Actually, I'd think 18Mbps is a little slow if you are on Cable(TV), but they do also throttle that service subject to system load. So you might find no problem streaming yet get a larger slowing of file download speed during streaming, they can pick and choose speeds for different protocols using ACLs or proxy delay pools. On your home Router this would be QoS, which is a variant of traffic control for voice and data.
I believe the Foxtel / Optus type connections give priority to streaming content over other downloads. If you wanted to learn about that search for Squid Delay Pools, but I wouldn't do it to yourself voluntarily!
Thanks for all of that. I get good enough performance most of the time, so bottom line I guess is that the service is adequate. And suffice to know that line speed/performance is only a part of the full picture as far as overall performance is concerned.